Many platforms track us, mostly for advertising purposes, but the extent and risk differ from one company to another. Facebook allows for three types of major surveillance (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). The surveillance of data focuses on deciphering our interests, wants and needs, inclinations, etc. and sends such data to advertising companies that will be able to customize the ads we receive based on what we like and even based on predictions of what we might like (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). The second form of surveillance is the one practiced by the state. When the government takes our data to uncover criminal activity, inclinations of terrorism, and generally anything particularly illegal (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). This may not sound terrible, however it must be noted that some information can easily be misinterpreted and can lead to major consequences on the individual (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). The last form of surveillance and attack on privacy is when Facebook constantly attempts to enlarge our circle of friends, likely asking us to add people we have never met or seen, sometimes from other countries (Vaidhyanathan, 2018). This, for obvious reasons, can be particularly dangerous and put us at major risks. Unfortunately, surveillance does not end there. Another major form of surveillance is the “surveillance tower” particularly exercised on Palestinian women (Odeh, 2018). Their research denotes how violence in real life, due to the Israeli occupation and limited Palestinian resources, is clearly reflected on digital platforms and heavily surveilled by family members (Odeh, 2018). This results in an excessive need for women to censor themselves, which counterproductively, still heavily subjects them to sexual harassment online (Odeh, 2018).
References
Odeh, S. (2018). A Violent Network Gender-Based Violence Against Palestinian: Women in Virtual Space. Kvinna till Kvinna.
Vaidhyanathan, S. (2018). Anti Social Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy. Retrieved from https://archive.indianculturalforum.in/2018/08/18/anti-social-media-how-facebook-disconnects-us-and-undermines-democracy/
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